An emotional day for me

Today I went to see Brody with my father-in-law, Jimmy.  When we got to the hospital, Brody was less sedated and was moving around a good bit. His face is still pretty puffy so I doubt he could open his eyes even if he wanted to. Our visit was short but sweet. I put my finger in his hand and he gently squeezed it. When I rubbed his tiny little foot he stretched out his leg and showed off his long limbs (and adorable wrinkly knees). When I stroked his soft brown hair, he raised his little eyebrows. I silently played "this little piggy" and sang him Ryder's favorite song, "twinkle twinkle little star" in my head. ...maybe he could still hear me.

We were only there about an hour before they took him away to do some sort of tests. I didn't quite understand what all they were doing and after asking twice the nurse seemed a little agitated with me. That and her accent was very strong and I couldn't really understand every word she said.  But from what I understood, the nephrologist, urologist, and radiologist were all going to be there...they were going to inject a dye into a couple of his catheters and take a few x-rays to see where the dye was going. Two of the catheters are leaking and I think the nurse said the doctor was going to look at that too. She didn't seem overly concerned about it. The nurse said it would take an hour or two to do the tests and then several more hours before we had any results. So in an effort to beat the Atlanta traffic, Jimmy and I decided to head home and not wait in the waiting room all afternoon. They placed him in the transfer unit before I could give him a see-you-later kiss and I didn't feel comfortable giving him a kiss after that because the Respiratory Therapist was manually ventilating Brody and I didn't want to get in the way. I pray that he knows how much he is loved. And even though I can't be there with him 24/7 he's not alone.

Jimmy and I walked down to the cafeteria, grabbed us some lunch and went home. ...on a side note... I think it's really awesome that CHOA gives a 25% discount at the cafe to all parents and a $6 credit if you are a nursing mom. Adam and I had dinner the other night for $2 and some change.

Anyways, I called the NICU around 6pm to check on the results of the tests but the nurse said it would be morning before they knew anything. She told me she decreased his settings on the ventilator and he was handling it very well. They also started to feed him.  He's now getting 2ml of breast milk every hour. The tube that was in his belly to release air is now the tube they use to feed him.

Adam called again to check on him right around bed time and the nurse said he is still doing good and handling the feedings well. She said she even gave him a bath tonight which he tolerated well too.   Here is today's picture of my little angel.

Now if I could just stop crying and go to bed tomorrow would be here much sooner and I will be able to give him that kiss that I missed out on today.